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| Paul Thouin |
The Galleries of the Art Association of Montreal, as it was then known, had been robbed of 16 paintings* from its Spring Collection room.
Meanwhile far more valuable paintings in another room remained untouched.
Paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens Da Vinci and Gainsborough, worth about $3 million, were still there.
The more valuable collection had been loaned to the museum after a fire at the nearby Van Horne Mansion five days prior.
The theft, while relatively minor, made newspapers across North America, and so provincial police chief Louis Jargille made it a high priority case.
But detectives had little to work with. Clues only indicated that the thief had worn tennis shoes.
A week later the museum received a ransom note asking for $10,000.
The demand was for more than the value of the paintings.
The thief asked the museum to respond via a note in an art column in a Montreal daily newspaper.
"The officers of the Galleries of the art Association of Montreal are interested in the proposition made by Anonymous," museum officials responded in a note in the Montreal Star.
The thief then sent half of one painting to The Star and another to La Presse including a note asking for a ransom of "25 percent of their value."
If the museum didn't pay up, they'd get the paintings returned in "jigsaw fashion."
Police chief Jargille worked all known informants to find out more about the theft but it turned up little.
Then one day Paul Thouin, 31, short, well-dressed man, came to the police headquarters asking to see Jargille.
Thouin a wayward young man from a good family, was out on bail awaiting a trial for possessing stolen goods. Thouin was originally known as Issaie Lepine and he had moved to Montreal from St. Jacques de Montcalm 70 km northeast of Montreal.
Thouin told Jargille that he could help solve the mystery of the stolen paintings in return for being cleared of the charges he faced.
Thouin and Jargille talked for two hours and nothing came of it. After Thouin left, Jargille instructed officers to follow Thouin and keep an eye on him.
Jargille, meanwhile, was distracted from the art theft case by a rash of thefts from freight cars in Canadian Pacific Railway yards.
The CPR assigned two of its top agents to track down the rail thieves.
Inspector James Mackie and Special Investigator W.G. Miller received a tip that a heist was planned in railway yards at Lanoraie between Montreal and Quebec City.
On September 7 Mackie and Miller were staking out the railway cars when they heard thieves.
After some time they moved in and each attempted to apprehend one of the thieves.
A scuffle ensued, shots were fired and the detectives managed to cuff one of the two, while the other fled.
Thee three walked for about 20 seconds when Mackie looked down and saw that he had been shot in the stomach.
Miller, Mackie and their prisoner jumped on a train to Montreal.
Soon Mackie was on an emergency table at the Royal Victoria Hospital.
The four bullets proved fatal however and CPR Inspector Mackie died of the gun wounds fired by the yard thief.
The suspect reported his name as Harry Smith of London Ontario.
But a detective remembered the face. It was the very same Paul Thouin who police had been keeping an eye on.
Police soon after arrested Thouin's accomplice Gaston Bouchard driving on a country road in a large car.
Police placed partners Thouin and Bouchard in the same cell. They pretended not to know one another but detectives had seen them together in local bars.
While the duo was being processed for murder chargers, police took advantage of Thouin's captivity to ask him again what he knew about the stolen paintings.
He urged them to discuss the matter with his lawyer Leonce Plante, who had previously gotten Thouin acquitted four times.
After discussing the matter with his lawyer, Thouin confessed to stealing the paintings.
He said that his plan was to steal the valuable paintings but instead took the wrong ones.
Thouin offered to show police where he had hidden the paintings on the condition that they allow him to first go home and change his clothing.
Police Chief Jargile agreed and a heavily armed group of police brought Thouin to his home on Chambly St. where he changed.
Police made sure to check the pockets of his clothing and the inside of his shoes before he got dressed.
Police drove a well-dressed Thouin and some art gallery officials to a spot in l'Epiphanie where police dug the paintings out a sand pit. Thouin had wrapped them well and they were still in good shape.
Thouin was in uncharacteristically good humour after surrendering the paintings and being returned to his cell. He was equally buoyant when police came to question him before being charging him with murder.
On that Sunday afternoon Thouin lay down on his jail cell cot, smoked a cigarette, took off his shows and dozed off. Three hours later a guard noticed that Thouin looked unwell.
He entered the cell to see that Thouin was dead. Guards examined the brown leather shoes beneath Thouin's cot and noticed one had a hollowed out heel cavity.
Thouin had transported poison in the heel of his shoe and had killed himself with it.
He had committed suicide in his cell rather than face murder charges.
Thouin's partner Bouchard, meanwhile, claimed that he had no gun and was not responsible for Mackie's death in the railway yards. Jurors reduced his charge to manslaughter and he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
* The stolen paintings were: .
Compsoition in Black and Gray by Adam Sherriff Scott of Montreal value $400
Portrait of Miss H. Haig by R.S. Hewton Montreal (not for sale)
Portrait of Dr. A. W. Archibald and Portrait of Norman Dawes by Alphonse Jongers Montreal, $3 each.
Portrait of Dr. A.. L. Lockwood and Portrait of John B. Laidlaw by Kenneth Forbes Toronto, $3 k each.
Portrait Dr. J.A. Mireault by J. Saint-Charles (not evaluated)
Paysage d'Automne Tardif by Marc Aurele Fortin Montreal $100
The Golden Fleece by Max Schulz Montreal $250
Petitte Rivieres aux Renards by G.S. Bagley $200
The Moorland Bridge Elizabeth Styring Nutt Halifax $450
Three Old Houses Louisa Street Toronto by Peter C. Sheppard Toronto $300
The Green Boat by Peter C. Sheppard Toronto $250
The Swimming Hole by Henry Jl Simpkins Montreal $275
At the Bird Bath by Alberta Cleland Montreal $350
Portrait study by Marjorie Smith Montreal No evaluated.
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